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Friday–Saturday, October 27–28, 2023 / 12–13 Heshvan, 5784
Parashah: Lekh L’kha
WORDS OF INSPIRATION
In the very second verse of this week’s Torah portion, Lekh L’kha, God tells Avram, “V’e-eskha l’goy gadol, va-avarekh’kha, va-agadlah sh’mekha, vehyeh b’rakha” – “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2)
In Bamidbar Rabbah, we find an interesting midrash claiming that before this Avram was missing five organs, and interpreting va-agadlah sh’mekha using the Jewish numerological system of gematria. It reads, “I will make your name great,” to mean, “I will add a letter to your name, so that its numerical value will amount to 248, corresponding to the number of limbs in your body. Your body will then be found to be whole, matching your name.” When God added a letter to Avram’s name, a hey to make it Avraham, adding the numerical value of five, it made him whole, in name as well as in body, and ostensibly whole in spirit.
These days, we may feel like we are missing pieces of ourselves or our community. I wonder what the missing letter in our names, like the hey for Avraham, might be. It certainly doesn’t feel so simple as that. But I suggest two possible thoughts based on this midrash:
Firstly, that we can find some semblance of wholeness through our breath, the sound of the letter hey that Avraham himself needed. Secondly, that by our abilities to be blessed and be blessings, as God says in this week’s parashah, we can find the wholeness – the shalem – and the related word for peace – shalom – that we seek.
May we create opportunities to make our world better, recognize and value the good things even among the darkness, and make space to breathe through the constriction of these narrow spaces in which we find ourselves. Shabbat Shalom.
Cantorial Intern Sierra Fox
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